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Summary
On episode 138 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan closes out his three part series on play by taking listeners all the way back to the floor, the way babies and toddlers moved before any of us set foot in a gym.
He argues that simply getting down to the floor and back up is a real exercise on its own, and builds a case for crawling, burpees, and Turkish get ups as ways to rebuild endurance, strength, and hip mobility using nothing but body weight.
He closes with a simple circuit you can run at home and a small challenge: trade some of your couch sitting time for floor sitting time.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- Getting down to the floor and back up is itself an exercise. For many people that simple transition builds real endurance, and it is worth practicing on its own before adding anything else.
- The burpee is a repeatable version of that up and down movement. Unlike most floor exercises where you go down once and stay down, the burpee has you cycling up and down, which is what makes it valuable for building endurance.
- The Turkish get up trains controlled strength through the whole body. Moving from the floor to standing with a kettlebell or dumbbell overhead builds strength, balance, and stability in a way few other movements do.
- Crawling works your upper body and core harder than it looks. Maintaining your body position while crawling takes real effort and builds strength and endurance most people are not used to.
- Floor based movement rebuilds hip mobility lost to adult life. The postures kids naturally fall into on the floor, knees drawn up and to the side, restore range of motion that sitting in chairs slowly takes away.
- A simple circuit ties it together. Crawl to a spot and do burpees, crawl back and do Turkish get ups, crawl again and do renegade rows, then crawl and just move your hips and legs freely, one round is enough for a solid workout.
- The renegade row combines two movements into one. It pairs a push up with a row so you work both muscle groups efficiently in a single exercise.
- Sitting on the floor instead of a couch adds up over time. You naturally squirm and shift position more on the floor, and that extra movement burns calories and helps your posture and core strength.
“You’d be surprised how much effort it takes to maintain your body and your core while you’re crawling around on the floor.”
Coach Allan Misner
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Episode 324 – Fit at midlife with Samantha Brennan and Tracy Isaacs